July 8, 2025
A neighborhood household in Calera, Alabama is getting assist of their seek for a beloved patriarch who vanished shortly after arriving from Kenya.
A Kenyan household in Calera, Alabama, is receiving robust assist from their area people as they seek for their household patriarch, who went lacking simply days earlier than his grandson’s commencement, a celebration he had traveled to attend.
Reuben Waithaka, 72, was final seen at a gasoline station he hitchhiked to someday after arriving in Calera to attend his grandson’s highschool commencement, CNN reviews. Nonetheless, surveillance footage reveals Waithaka waving at a retailer attendant earlier than he went contained in the restroom and out a again door, the place he was by no means seen once more.
“He simply received right here. After which he was gone,” Waithaka’s grandson, Byron Barua, 17, stated.
It’s been seven weeks because the Kenyan vacationer went lacking. Regardless of in depth efforts, together with lacking particular person flyers, helicopters, drones, off-road automobiles, monitoring canines, and infrared heat-seeking cameras, police have but to search out any hint of him.
“Typically I remorse why I requested my dad and mom to return for my son’s commencement. I discover myself questioning, ‘What would I’ve achieved otherwise? ’” Waithaka’s son, Willington Barua, stated. “Perhaps if I hadn’t invited them, my dad would nonetheless be with us.”
The household suspects Waithaka might have had undiagnosed dementia or one other situation triggered by the stress of being away from house and the 18-hour journey from Kenya to Alabama. Throughout the second leg of his journey, from Frankfurt to Atlanta, he turned incoherent and agitated, requiring a flight attendant to help his spouse in holding him seated.
Upon arriving in Alabama, Waithaka appeared confused and fell whereas attempting to make use of an airport escalator the unsuitable manner, injuring his knee. His limp from that fall is seen on gasoline station safety footage. Afterward, Barua took his father to the ER, the place a head CT scan and bloodwork got here again regular.
After a nap and breakfast, Waithaka allegedly stepped exterior, and his household hadn’t seen him since. He accepted two rides from motorists, with the final dropping him off on the gasoline station the place he was final seen. A close-by resident later reported seeing somebody matching Waithaka’s description enter a searching membership close to the gasoline station. The girl instructed police he crawled below a gate and vanished into the woods.
Police have carried out a number of searches of the encompassing wooded areas and interviewed native residents a number of instances. Investigators consider Waithaka might have caught one other experience on the truck cease situated behind the gasoline station, doubtlessly leaving the world solely.
Waithaka turned 73 on June 3. Byron graduated simply days after his grandfather went lacking, with out him there to have fun.
“It was tragic, however I attempted to not let it get to me or convey me down all the way in which,” Byron stated of his lacking grandfather. “I pray for him to remain protected.”
Waithaka’s son, who owns a trucking firm, says he posts flyers at each relaxation cease and truck cease he visits. At any time when he drives previous a wooded space, he slows down, scanning the bushes in hopes of recognizing his father.
Each telephone name brings a rush of hysteria and hope as he braces for the potential for solutions. Not realizing something about his father’s whereabouts is the toughest half, he stated.
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